5 Tips to picking flowers for a stunning flower arrangement
As a florist, one of my favorite things to do is go to the flower wholesaler, see all the blooms that are in season, and become inspired to put together the bouquets for my monthly subscribers . I love doing the same thing when I go to my local Trader Joe’s or Jewel Osco in their flower section. But choosing flowers can be overwhelming when there are so many colors and types of flowers.
I often times study flower arrangements I see posted on social media, and then compare against mine. I have studied under a master florist, and I wanted to share 5 tips when I am selecting flowers for my arrangements and bouquets.
Consider the size of your arrangement.
Determining how large or small will help you determine around how many flowers or types of flowers you want to select. A good general rule of thumb you can use is to make your arrangement 2-3 times as wide as the vase is tall, and 1.5 times as tall as the vase.
2. Select your color pallet.
I often get overwhelmed if I don’t have a plan of a color palette in place before I go shop. There is so much information out there and resources on color studies and color palettes. My biggest tip is when in doubt, go monochromatic. It always looks great.
3. Choose Flowers of different sizes and shapes.
There are 3 types of flowers when designing: Focal Flowers, Filler Flowers, LIne Flowers.
Focal Flowers: These are usually larger flowers but generally where you want the focus to go first. Examples are Peonies, Sun Flowers, Roses, Lilies.
Filler Flowers: These are flowers that help fill in between your Focal Flowers. Filler Flowers can range from teeny tiny like baby's breath to larger like carnations and mums.
Line Flowers: These are exactly how they sound in that they create a line shape and can add interest to an arrangement. Example of line flowers are Snapdragons, Larkspur, and Delphinium.
I generally like to choose 1 Focal flower, 2-4 filler Flowers of different sizes and shapes, and 1 line flower.
4. Add Texture
There are a couple different ways to add texture to an arrangement. One way is to make sure you choose differnt Petal Shapes in the flowers you select. Some flowers have rounds, smoother shapes, some have ruffly edges, or some come to a point. Selecting flowers with differing petal shapes help create different textures in an arrangement. A second way is to select filler Flowers that have small clusters of flowers or greenery. I love wax flower, salidago and limonium to add textures and interest. A third way to add texture is to add greenery that has different textures.
5. Don’t forget the greenery
My last tip is don’t forget greenery. It adds a nice natural break between flowers and can act as a neutral color to your palette. There are many options of greenery to add. They can be straight and more structured or more airy and flow more and add movement.
At the end of the day, there is no flower police and no one to say if it is right or wrong. What matters is if you like it and hopefully, it can be a creative outlet, a fun experience and bring you some joy and cheer
